Sunday was an exciting day for everyone on campus because all the frosh have arrived! The soccer team had morning practice and after we came back from the gym I definitely felt a change in atmosphere.So many more people and new faces!It kind of feels like the first day of high school, but way better because it's college, especially since the friends you make are neighbors.The usual formalities ensued; we officially checked in, got free stuff, nonpreseason athletes moved in, etc. Right before convocation, we took our Class of 2016 picture.
I guess convocation wasn't far from what I expected either in the sense that the presentation was very official. Though unlike your typical college convocation, we were fortunate enough to have Professor Grotzinger speak to us; his rover has already started gathering data on Mars. You can learn more about him here: https://www.gps.caltech.edu/grotz/Research/Mars.html.
We met too many new people to remember all the names. Even a small school can seem to have an overwhelming amount of people sometimes. When returning students are back on campus, there will be even more new faces. I can't wait to get to know more people; everyone here is so interesting in one way or another, and small talk isn't ever really small talk. After asking where someone is from, conversations go straight into physics, proofs, or something of the sort.
At convocation speakers told us how extraordinary we were for being admitted to such a prestigious university; I believed them and all but how many universities don't tell their incoming class they're special? But it's a different story when a stranger tells you the same thing. My friends and I were walking back to campus and we met up with this middle-aged man walking his dog. We started talking and when we told him we were from Caltech, he said, "Wow. I don't even know you guys, but I'm proud of you." Granted, it was a Friday night and we went out for groceries, but that's when I realized how fortunate I am to be attending Caltech.
Monica
Just last week, on an unassuming Thursday, the astro(physics) community got served two humongous cakes at once. Both the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) and the IceCube Neutrino Observatory (IceCube) have ground-breaking scientific findings to share with the class!
A friendly desert community where the sun is hot, the mountains are beautiful, and mysterious sounds echo between our walls while we don’t even pretend to sleep.
This summer I had the incredible opportunity to do a 10-week internship at Gilead Sciences in Foster City, CA. For those unfamiliar, Gilead Sciences, Inc. is a research-based biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of innovative medicines.
